US Supreme Court intervenes 20 minutes before Texas man’s execution
Texas inmate Ruben Gutierrez would have been just 20 minutes away from being executed by lethal injection before the U.S. Supreme Court intervened Tuesday night and indefinitely stayed his execution for the murder of 85-year-old Escolastica Harrison.
The victim’s family had driven six hours from Brownsville to the Huntsville prison, and Gutierrez was waiting to be taken to the execution chamber. If Texas hadn’t abolished the last meal in 2011, he would have already been enjoying the food of his choosing.
Gutierrez, who was convicted of stabbing Harrison more than 25 years ago, has long maintained that DNA analysis of the evidence would exonerate him. His lawyers say there is no physical or forensic evidence linking the 47-year-old man to the Brownsville killing. Two other people have also been charged in the case.
But Gutierrez’s repeated appeals in state and federal courts have been largely unsuccessful.
In that appeal, Gutierrez’s lawyers argued that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals violated federal precedent when it overturned a lower court’s decision finding a restriction on Texas DNA testing law unconstitutional.
The last-minute change was devastating for the murder victim’s family, said Cameron County District Attorney Luis Saenz – and it was made even worse by the fact that they had already found themselves in the same situation four years ago.
In 2020, Harrison’s relatives and Saenz drove to the Huntsville prison to watch the execution of their alleged killer. “We were just receiving final instructions on how to be escorted into the chamber,” Saenz said when the phone rang. At the time, the Supreme Court halted the execution on the grounds that Texas’ ban on religious advisers in execution chambers violated his religious freedom.
“How do I explain to them, ‘Well, it didn’t happen again even though you drove six hours to get here?'” Saenz told the Statesman as he drove home from prison Tuesday night. “I mean, how many times do they have to go through this?”
Saenz pointed out that the last statement of claim in this case was filed on July 11, five days before the Supreme Court ordered a last-minute stay of proceedings.
“It’s just heartbreaking. I just feel terrible for (the family),” Saenz said. “I understand the courts are doing what they have to do, but why do they have to wait until the last minute?”
Gutierrez’s lawyer Shawn Nolan welcomed the court’s decision and expressed confidence that it would pave the way for his client’s release.
“We hope that now that the court has intervened to prevent this execution, we can finally conduct the DNA testing to prove that Mr. Gutierrez should not be executed now or in the future,” attorney Shawn Nolan said in a statement Tuesday evening.
The Supreme Court’s decision temporarily puts Gutierrez’s case on hold pending further proceedings so the justices can consider whether to allow a hearing in the case. The stay could be lifted if they later decide to dismiss the case.
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